Read any good books lately?

[Andybev01]

I confess that I don't read the volume of books (ha ha) that I once did, and anymore
It's cookbooks that I gravitate toward.

But recently I picked up an 1891 edition of 'Manners Culture and Dress of the Best American Society'.

I love the genteel, high Victorian rules required to land yourself in the Society pages.

[Murfreesboro]

I wonder what a hired mute was? I know that in antiquity, they hired professional mourners, but those people played mournful music and wept and wailed and carried on.

I recently read David McCulough's The Wright Brothers. That was an amazing read. Talk about ingenuity! There came a moment when they realized that all the "experts" on aerodynamics were wrong, and they just started their research from scratch with a homemade wind tunnel.

[Andybev01]

I have never read any of McCulough's books, but I am a fan of his work as adapted to the screen.

Ken Burns' 'Benjamin Franklin' is a master collaboration, as well as the miniseries 'John Adams'.

And this is the time of year that I rewatch them and also the goofy yet highly entertaining '1776'.

The two songs that save that movie from becoming cartoonish are the magnificent 'Molasses to Rum' and the heartbreaking 'Momma Look Sharp.

https://youtu.be/IeuaTpH6Ck0?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/KPCQ_WqQFL8?feature=shared

I defy any person with a still beating heart not to be moved by either.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I have 1776 on dvd and watch it every year. Every member of my family will come in for Molasses to Rum to Slaves. I agree with you about both of those numbers.

The John Adams book reads like a novel and is even better than the miniseries, IMO.

I also love Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, about Lewis and Clark. And Walter Isaakson's (sp?) Benjamin Franklin. Ron Chernow's George Washington is a good read, too.

Obviously, I love narrative history, and the founding and early years of the republic are my favorite eras.

[Andybev01]

Yeah, I pretty much bleed red white and blue.

[Murfreesboro]

Good for you! I wish everyone did.

[Andybev01]

You are spot on.

You might enjoy an album by the music group Hesperus called 'Early American Roots'.

It's a collection of American colonial popular tunes performed on period correct instruments.

You can find most of the tracks on yootood. Sadly however, yhere are commercials between the songs, but at least not during them.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmIp ... ure=shared

I usually have it playing on Thanksgiving and Independence Day, or whenever I feel patriotic...which is often.

[Murfreesboro]

It's too late for me to get into a song fest tonight, but I will for sure listen to that later. I love early music (as in, late Medieval and Renaissance), and folk music is similar to that. Also, I just love getting a feel for historical periods by listening to their music.

[Andybev01]

I do too.

I'm reading a book on American period homes (17th - mid 20th century) and I will put on an HD video of a forest or river, and play period music for each century as I progress.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, now, that's a great idea.

Btw, I followed your link and listened to the first three songs. I do enjoy that stuff. Where did you find it? Is the album sold at the Smithsonian?

[Andybev01]

I've only had the digital download, and it's been so long that I don't recall how I found it.

I think you can buy the CD on Amaz0n.

[Murfreesboro]

I like kind of out-of-the-mainstream stuff like that.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

The only books that I get to read these days are for kids.

We read to, and with our kids but that's it. I have been reading the Oz books with them for awhile, as well as a few of the modern books that are popular now.

I have mentioned before that there are still a few classic books that I want to read, and maybe one day I will, but life is just too busy right now.

[Murfreesboro]

Back in the 90s I had a book series about American history, aimed maybe at 4th graders? I'll have to see if I can find some of those and recall the name of that series.

Also, if you get a chance, nab the DVD series Liberty's Kids. It tells the story of The American Revolution from a child's point of view. There are three child protagonists, a little colonial boy, an English girl living in the colonies, and a little black boy. My kids actually learned a lot from watching it.

You can read stuff to your kids that's too advanced for them to read yet. When my first boy was 8, I took him to a production of The Hobbit at the Nashville Children's Theater. Back home, he asked me to read it to him, so I did. Then he asked me to read him The Lord of the Rings, so I did that, too.

You can also read to them when they are a little older. I read Grimms' Fairy Tales aloud to my daughter when she was 13.

[Andybev01]

Charles Schultz also produced an American history series featuring the Peanuts, called 'This is America, Charlie Brown'.